


The Siege of The North Part 3

by SozinWasRight



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Canonical Character Death, Episode: s01e20 The Siege of the North Part 2, Execution, F/M, Graphic Description, Iroh Being Shady, Murder, Not Beta Read, Oneshot, POV Iroh (Avatar), POV Zhao (Avatar), Protective Iroh (Avatar), Racism, Zhao (Avatar) Is An Asshole, Zhao Is Stubborn, Zhao-Centric, accidental murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:08:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SozinWasRight/pseuds/SozinWasRight
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	The Siege of The North Part 3

"Whatever you do to that spirit, I will unleash on you tenfold! Now let it go!" The retired General Iroh snarled towards Admiral Zhao with a pair of burning eyes worth ten thousand suns. His palms were outstretched forward in a vicious stance prepared to annihilate all the men that held the Moon Spirit captive. 

Zhao stared back at the infuriated firebender. He gulped down a lump that formed in his throat while he considered his options; the old General Iroh wasn't a man to trifle with. However, he was at a disadvantage, the spirit was in Zhao's possession and at its weakest. Surely, none of the people that threatened to destroy him could have wanted to also damage their so precious spirit. 

"What are you going to do, General Iroh, blast me in the face with fire?" Zhao scoffed. "Come on then. I'm right here." Zhao held the pouch that contained the spirit high in front of himself, and drew a fist closer to it as well. 

Both men glared at each other with their fiery eyes; Iroh looked furious, made powerless by the Admiral, whose sneer ticked him off even more. "Fine." Iroh dropped his wide posture. "I surrender, Zhao. The Nothern Water Tribe is yours. You've won." 

Zhao grinned pleased by the sight of a traitor like Iroh be completely at his mercy. "No, not yet, the Water Tribe is not my target. I will not leave this cooler without the Avatar too." 

Aang's eyes opened wide, while Katara laid a hand on his shoulder instinctively. "If I come with you, will you return the spirit to the Oasis?" Aang tried to negotiate. It worked last time, might as well try a second time. 

"Unfortunately for you, you don't have a say in this, Airbender." Zhao nodded his head at the group, and his men were swift to detain all the people present at the Spirit Oasis. If it wasn't for him and the spirit being in his clutches, Iroh would've fought through every single of them and burn off that smug face from him.

Zhao observed the crimson moon in the night sky. "People will remember my name in history for ages to come, the day that the Fire Nation ended the Water Tribes with a single decisive strike, the day that the last airbender was wiped out from this world..." 

He turned down his stare to meet that of Aang's. "The day that I, Zhao The Invincible, seized the Avatar that scurried away from Fire Lord Sozin just one hundred years ago." Aang inhaled a bunch of air through his mouth.

Zhao saw what was about to come from a hill away. Aang breathed out a burst of wind that would have knocked him off his feet if it weren't for the facts this has happened to him before. He sidestepped out of harm's way.

Aang gasped. He felt confident that would have caught the Admiral by surprise, but it seems not. His heart beat faster than ever when Zhao stepped closer until his figure towered over his much smaller frame.

"My turn now." The firebender guards tightened their grips on the Avatar, who squirmed to try and worm his arms out of their grasp to no avail. Zhao clenched his free hand into a fist again, and decked Aang right into the nose with a fire jab.

Aang screamed, anguished by the extreme burning sensation that wrapped around his features like typical air did. Blood trickled down his injured and singed nose into his partly-injured lips and crevices.

The Avatar twisted his legs and feet and arms around in response to the pain that course through him. Katara yelled for him, while Sokka and Yue only watched the commotion through mute stares. Iroh cringed away, not particularly worried about Aang for they were enemies, but frankly disturbed regardless.

Zhao enjoyed the spectacle. He grabbed Aang by the chin and forced him to look into his amber eyes. "You will better reconsider the next time you try to attack me, little brat."

Iroh rasped out with a pleading tone. "I am begging you, Admiral Zhao... Don't do this. You're not too late yet to do what is right; the spirits are not to be disturbed."

Zhao cocked an eyebrow as he turned his head at the elder man. "I'll do anything, please..." 

The Admiral guffawed truly amused by such a pathetic display. "You should be more grateful, General Iroh. I will not lay a finger on your spirit nor the Avatar. Well... I won't do more to him than I already have, as long as he knows how to behave properly."

"And do not fret, I am sure your brother will be content to hear the news of your treachery against our Fire Nation... Just like his failure of a son, you are weak."

Iroh deflated at let his head sag down and humbly, yet regrettably accepted his defeat. He first failed to protect his son, then Zuko, and now the rest of the Four Nations, what an useless man he's turned out to be.

Iroh hoped Zuko would come to rescue everyone, that his spunky, hot headed nephew would show up to finish the fight he could not, and save the world from this calamity. But that wasn't fair on him, he hadn't needed such a burden on his shoulders, and perhaps he'd be happier if he wasn't involved in this at all.

"Execute those peasant savages, I will not take them on my nor any of our ships."

The trio native to the Water Tribes took a sharp intake of air and became terrified. They struggled against the firebenders who positioned them to be burnt to death.

"Aang! Please! Help us! You have to enter the Avatar State and save us!" Katara cried. "Aang, we need you right now! Please!" Sokka yelled. "You're the Avatar, you have to stop them!" Yue begged.

Aang breathed heavily. He tried to mumble words but slurred sounds came out of his lips. He looked on, sluggishly, too numb and pained to react like he normally does to threats.

Iroh wanted to interject, but he knew the Avatar might trigger the Avatar State if he observed his friends be brutalized. A cruel thought to have, but one that could save him, Zuko, and the Four Nations from a potential future where the ruthless Fire Nation is absolute.

With a final scream Yue fell to the ground. Sokka thrashed around and sobbed and cried until he couldn't breathe anymore.

Aang was barely capable to move, but he was aware of everything that happened. He felt miserable and useless, he failed the world one time already and now his two closest friends would be stripped from his life too, and it is his fault alone.

Katara was pulled by the braid on her hair down into a kneeling position. A hand was firmly pressed to her forehead, and it smoked with heat that irradiated from it. She bit her lip down and closed her eyelids. "Aang, please... I need you..."

An explosion of flames silenced all cries for mercy that came from Katara, whose limp corpse hit the grassy ground and her disfigured and lifeless face was everything the young Avatar focused into in that moment. "No... No!"

Tears streamed down Aang's cheeks as he yelled for Katara's name. He wrathfully resisted the apprehension of the Fire Nation soldiers in attempt after attempt to release himself and run straight to Katara. He refused to accept she's really gone and that that responsibility was his.

"Let me... Go!" Aang's eyes turned brightly white, their light contrasted with the red moonlight's own. His voice became distorted as if he channeled tens of thousands of incarnations in the blink of an eye. A shockwave of wind expanded from his person, and knocked away every single person that stood by, it freed him at the cost of the pair that apprehended him's organs to be ruptured and their bones to become splinters.

Zhao propped himself up on his arms and watched as the Avatar rose in a five stories tall tornado. The air swirled violently and he thought that if he tried to stand up, he'd be flung away with it. 

Aang sweeped the soldiers into the iceberg walls like they were rag dolls, the painful loud thuds their bodies made on impact preceded the splashing sounds of the warm water. So, this was the Avatar's Fury that so many people dreaded.

Aang grieved through his scorn. He curved an arm behind his back, and thrusted another in Zhao's direction. A tremendous gale followed it in its wake, the trees' leaves that surrounded the Oasis were shredded off in a beat. Zhao stayed still, but he firmly shut his eyes, he'd rather die a fearless man than a coward.

A blinding flash of dim blue light lit the pinnacle. A deafening thunderous crackle reverberated into the Admiral's ears. His skin was lightly brushed by a gust of wind, which made him feel confused. 

Zhao snapped his eyes open when the sudden and unexpected silence became too much to tolerate.

The burned and severely scarred body of the boy landed on the grass with the same speed he ascended. His darkened limbs spasmed as electricity coursed through them like they would in a sheet of metal. The site smelled of copper and ash and singed flesh. 

The Admiral frantically searched for the pouch which was not on him anymore, until his eyes landed on the General's feet. "Don't make me do to you what I had to do with the Avatar, Zhao." 

Zhao scowled. He glared up to meet Iroh's stern eyes, and almost tore out some of the grass bundled in his hands for how hard he furiously tugged on it. "It's over now. You should count yourself lucky I will let you take this victory." Iroh stepped away from Zhao and closer to the pond, where he crouched down to undo the knot of the bag to release Tui.

"Just like your nephew..." Zhao slowly regained his footing. "You're a coward!" He roared as he lunged forward towards the old general a curtain of fire.

Iroh foresaw the sucker punch from the easily irritated Zhao. Like last time, he stopped the attack before it caused anyone harm. 

The General deflected the flames out of his direction with a sharp turn of his arms and torso. The Admiral frowned frustratedly. He grunted as he made another series of angry jabs and shot fireballs aimed for his target. 

Iroh dodge rolled to evade them, his feet were firmly rooted to the ground and he could not spare time to catch himself. Some of the grass quickly caught on fire.

Their rigid stances and expressions boiled with rage and decidedness. "Stop this lunacy, Zhao! You've gone mad with power! March out of the oasis at once or your fate will be a thousand times worse than that of the Avatar's!" "You're who has lost his mind to a pointless struggle for balance. And for what? You had besieged Ba Sing Se, you turned a blind eye to these savages and allowed them to burn down to a crisp, and even murdered the last airbender in cold blood." 

Iroh felt insecure, he shifted his eyes away as a remorseful frown found its way on his lips. "Your silence speaks volumes, General. You might act like a saviour, but I know better than everyone else, I can see it in your eyes. You, and your pathetic nephew reek of treachery and dishonor. The Moon Spirit will come with me." 

Zhao huffed out from his nostrils and started for the bag of cloth that shook by the ridge of the oasis. "Then you leave me with no other choice, Admiral Zhao." Iroh rasped with a solemn voice and shook his head disappointed. 

The General made a motion with his deft hands and fired lightning from his fingertips against Zhao, who heard the discharge being sparked behind him and saw the flash of light. 

Naturally, Zhao heel turned and instinctively covered himself and tossed the spirit to hinder the strike from connecting with him. 

Almost in tandem, the once scarlet night sky and blood moon all faded to ink black. Only the starry skies as well as the fires caused by the duo and the ignited lanterns served as the sole sources of light. They stared at seemingly nothingness for a second, both dumbfounded by the astonishing event.

"No... No... No! What have you done, Zhao?!" Iroh lashed out with a volley of flames. Zhao slapped away one fireball, only to gasp when another almost made contact with his face. He felt a bone chilling shiver go down his spine as the old general was consumed by wrath.

The time frame he had to dodge each consecutive blast was very narrow, and when Iroh came into close distance, Zhao tried to retaliate with a flame punch into his neck. However, Iroh intercepted the counterattack by grabbing the Admiral's wrist and forcing it downward, pulling his shoulders and face to a lower level.

Zhao stumbled, and before he was able to defend himself, a knee met his nose with a forceful kick. Iroh didn't miss a beat, and proceeded to stick his foot into Zhao's abdomen, knocking the taller male into one of the poles of the damaged heavenly gate.

The Admiral wiped his upper lip and saw the blood that started to trickle down from his nose on his fingers. His vision turned blurry and his head dazed, a headache started to gnaw at the back of his head. Iroh held Zhao by the throat with one hand, squeezing it just enough to almost strangle him.

"This will teach you, never meddle with the spirits again!" Zhao fingered around the grass as if he prayed to anyone there'd be anything for him to use. He fidgeted until his digits grasped the blade of something, a knife presumably dropped from one of his late allies. The Admiral clutched it by the handle firmly.

Iroh hovered his one palm over Zhao's features with a fast move, and blasted fire at him. However, his attempt fell short when a cold steel was lodged deep inside his throat.

The old general lost most if not all his former zealousness. Zhao pushed him off of him, and Iroh scrambled over the dirt like a weakling. His arms felt tired, and the Admiral simply shoved him into the ground with a kick in his ribs. 

Iroh coughed and struggled to breathe, now nearly inaudibly moaning and groaning. Zhao removed the weapon from him, and more of the red substance oozed out. Iroh stared at him through half-lidded eyes with a pleading look, but he knew well what was about to come.

The knife was buried once more into Iroh's throat, but this time, Zhao twisted it to tear through his arteries as well.

Everything was quiet after that.

Zhao, despite aching, shakily rose up and spitefully observed Iroh's corpse. Then he glanced over to the dead avatar, and finally, the burned pouch with a dead spirit inside.

He sighed, cleaned the fresh blood that collected on his face with an arm, and returned to work.

Zhao tied the bag to his waist, slung the dead child over his shoulder, and grabbed the best he could the late Iroh's collar to bring all three with him as a testament of his many accomplishments today to the Fire Lord himself. 

Only the wind that howled in the cold moonless night accompanied him then.


End file.
